As we finish up the Nov.-Dec. issue of EE&T, some industry watchers are predicting the slow end to lead-acid battery technology. That's just one story you'll find in print edition hitting the streets soon. Meanwhile, send your energy efficiency news to us here at eeteditor@penton.com. -- Leland Teschler, Editor

Featured Content

There are a lot of talking points in favor of a supercharger based on an electric motor: There's no turbo lag and the supercharger delivers a lot of power at low engine speeds. That low-end performance often lets a smaller engine take the place of a a larger one.

Users of industrial sensor networks such as ControlNet will soon get the ability to check on the energy use of devices connected into such networks. The industrial network standards organization ODVA has devised an energy object feature for network communications that facilitates the collection of data about energy usage or generation.

The road to more efficient cooling could involve increased use of copper tubing, says the International Copper Association. One reason: copper tubing is more compatible with eco-friendly refrigerants coming into use than some of the alternatives, and copper tubes can be small thanks to copper's high thermal efficiency.

LED Lighting

ED maker Cree Inc. is touting its new LMH2 as the only LED module delivering 80-lumens/W system efficacy combined with CRI greater than 90. No question that designers are increasingly looking at color rendering index when specifying solid-state lighting. As a quick review, blackbody radiation is defined as having a CRI of 100. Incandescent lamps have a CRI of 100 as they are, in effect, almost blackbody radiators.

Advertisement

AC Industrial Fan Series, at Digi-Key NMB offers a series of oil proof and dust proof, long-life AC fan motors for products used in harsh environments such as machine tools and inverters. Also, they are well suited for products used outdoors such as solar light generation systems. The weather-resistant series, which is designed for low noise, high flow, and high pressure applications, is available in three sizes: 80 mm x 25 mm, 119 mm x 38 mm, and 150 mm x 172 mm x 38 mm. www.digikey.com

Combine an LED with a light pipe and you often get an interesting mode of illumination that can distinguish a product from its competitors. Experts at Elma Electronics discuss how light pipes are constructed, typical applications configurations, and things to look out for in this short video.

New Products

The DAC-12100 Series of low-power, 12-bit digital-to-analog converters have TTL/CMOS compatible inputs. The devices have a 100-MHz conversion rate and are suitable for radar, signal reconstruction, waveform generators, and communications equipment. The converters have a low glitch-energy characteristic of 3.0 pV-s, compared to the industry norm of 100 pV-s, so they generate little switching noise. Complementary current outputs of 0 to –20.48 mA can directly drive 50-Ù loads. Dynamic performance, to Nyquist at fOUT of 2.02 MHz, provides a free dynamic range specification of - 85 dB. The converters use R/2R resistor networks and segmented switching current cell arrangement to reduce glitch energy. The resistor network is laser trimmed to give it 12-bit linearity to within 0.5 LSB across the transfer curve.Datel

The energy-efficient EGSL Series electric slide, for pick-and-place systems or planar surface and 3D gantries, operates with linearity and parallelism to an accuracy of 0.0006 in. (0.015 mm). The slide provides positioning for strokes of up to 11.8 in. (300 mm). An enclosed ball screw prevents dirt or small workpieces from entering the guide area. The slides come in four sizes as measured in slide width: 1.4, 1.8, 2.2, and 3 in. (35, 45, 55, and 75 mm). The unit's motor, which is matched to the mechanical components, does not project beyond the slide. It can mount axially or in parallel. The slide's sensors are easy to install and simplify position sensing.Festo Corp.

Copyright 2011, Penton Media. All rights reserved. This content is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Penton Media.